1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to illumination systems used in dressing rooms and other applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the typical lighting arrangement, customers in a retail dressing room are all too often unhappy with the way they see themselves in the mirror while trying on clothes. (See Effects of Dressing Room Lighting Direction on Consumers' Perception of Self and Environment, Baumstarck, A., Park, N-K; University of Florida, 2009.) The perception is usually that the conditions in the room highlight, accentuate, and/or create under-eye bags, uneven skin tone and texture, wrinkles, less-than-desirable body fat distribution, cellulite, bulging veins, odd skin color, etc.
There are many blog and forum entries as well as articles on the subject on the Internet in which most women—and a surprising number of men—express agreement. For these people, the dressing room experience is often painful and seldom pleasant, and indeed affects their purchasing decisions. As a result, customers often choose: 1) to buy only what they perceive as absolutely necessary; 2) to take clothes home to try on in more pleasing conditions and then return what doesn't work; 3) to forego the entire experience and make their purchases on-line; or 4) all too often to buy nothing out of frustration and disappointment. Hence, in the apparel business it is often said that “the sale is made in the dressing room.”
The problem is primarily an issue of lighting, with most dressing rooms being lit by overhead sources—usually fluorescent or halogen bulbs—that are often very harsh and/or color-distorted. Such lighting casts hard shadows, often at unflattering color temperatures, which are responsible for most of the unpleasant effects. But remarkably little has ever been done to optimize lighting conditions in retail dressing rooms in order to affect—i.e., increase—sales.
Conventional solutions include the use of fluorescent or incandescent sconces placed alongside the mirror. However, this approach offers little improvement inasmuch as the sconces typically don't give off enough light.
A few years ago, dressing room atmospherics as a factor in sales came on the radar in the apparel industry and consequently the retail design community. As a result, poor dressing room conditions have been cosmetically improved fairly recently: some rooms have been cleaned up, painted, provided with more hooks, and new carpeting. Higher-end shops made their dressing rooms a luxury haven, bringing in over-sized gilt-frame mirrors and poufy furnishings. Some tried to deal with the lighting—usually by simply dimming and/or warming it to the point where it was difficult to see, i.e., near-candlelight.
Some stores, including a few chains, have employed side-lit mirrors, utilizing either fluorescent or incandescent lighting. Such side-lit mirrors are bulky and often unattractive, and require a high level of maintenance inasmuch as the bulbs burn out quickly. Also, these conventional systems generate substantial heat, which may affect a building's HVAC systems, and may present a potential burn risk for customers if not shielded properly. Other hazards include the possibility of broken or shattered glass, and the toxic release of mercury from broken fluorescent bulbs. Additionally, these conventional systems are generally part of the architecture of the space, and must be designed into the room; i.e., they cannot be dropped into any existing space.
Accordingly, a need remained in the art for an improved system or method for providing illumination for use with mirrors in retail dressing rooms.
U.S. patent application entitled ILLUMINATED MIRROR DESIGN AND METHOD, Ser. No. 13/134,229, filed May 30, 2011 by M. Ellis, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, addressed the need in the art by providing an illumination system of the present invention with an elongate rectangular mirror; a first diffuser mounted on a first side of said mirror in parallel relation along a longitudinal axis thereof; a second diffuser mounted on a second side of said mirror in parallel relation along said longitudinal axis; and an array of light emitting diodes mounted along an edge of said first and said second diffusers. The disclosed ELAVUE mirror is a modular integrated mirror and lighting unit or appliance that offers the potential to enhance customer perceptions of themselves in (and out of) the clothes they are considering, potentially resulting in longer stays, more clothing fittings, a more enjoyable shopping experience, and, ultimately, more sales.
While the ELAVUE system addressed the need in the art, it provides substantially uniform illumination from top to bottom. However, gradient illumination is now seen as more desirable inasmuch as when lighting is uniformly distributed up and down, it can create a subtle but noticeable effect (especially at higher intensities) of too much light coming from the lower part of the lighting panels, creating undesirable shadowing from below, and thus yielding a somewhat distorted, undesirable image in the mirror. The effect is similar to the unflattering shadowing effect of overhead lighting (mitigation of which is one of the biggest drivers behind the concept of the Elavue Mirror disclosed and claimed in the above-referenced Ellis application), only in reverse.
Thus, a need has been recognized for a solution that would soften and/or alleviate that effect by altering the distribution of light along the height of the panels such that the highest intensity comes from the general level of head and torso area, with fading to a much lower intensity from mid-height (approximately waist/hip area) to bottom/feet level. The lower part being still illuminated well enough to enhance viewing, differentiate colors, etc. (i.e., not completely unlit), but not as fully lit as the head/torso area.